Long and Strong
by hummerhouse
Summary: Michelangelo is quite the escape artist. Written for the 2018 Michelangelo Fanbook: Orange Crush. One Shot, 2k3 TMNT. 2nd Place in the TMNT Universal Reader's Choice Awards 2018: (General Ballot) Most In-Character Michelangelo.


Long and Strong 

They were screwed.

Mikey turned his head, trying to locate each of his brothers. He wasn't sure if he should be happy or not at the fact that they were all together. It would have been nice if at least one of them hadn't been caught, then he could hope for a rescue. Because they _had_ all been caught, being together meant no one was being tortured for information. Yet.

With his elbow, Mikey pushed himself into a seated position, using the wall as a brace. After the Purple Dragons had caught the four turtles, they'd wound ropes around their bodies and legs, gagged them, and tossed them into a freight container.

He didn't see the point in the gags. It wasn't as though they were going to do anything to draw attention to themselves.

Hun probably didn't want them talking to each other. The leader of the Purple Dragons no doubt got some kind of perverse pleasure at seeing his arch rivals trussed up and helpless.

 _"Well not this turtle,"_ Mikey thought.

The gag had to go. The cloth that had been stuffed into his mouth and tied tightly behind his head was cutting into the corners of his lips. Not only that, it tasted and smelled bad. There was no telling where it had been, it might even be one of Hun's old sweat stained shirts. That thought made Mikey grimace.

He tried lowering his cheek to his shoulder in an attempt to shift the gag, but the way his body was tied he couldn't lift his shoulder. The best he could do was touch his chin to his collarbone, which was pretty useless.

His brothers were trying to communicate by grunting at each other which was also pretty useless. It was still kind of funny to imagine Leo attempting to give orders that no one understood.

Ignoring his brothers for the moment, Mikey focused on the gag. There was one part of his body that he could still move, and that was his tongue.

Pushing his tongue against the gag, Mikey tested its tension, finding that there wasn't a lot of give. There was some though, due to a certain elasticity in the material. He could work with that.

There was no real comfortable way to do what had to happen next, so Mikey didn't think overly long about it. Leaning away from the wall, Mikey threw himself to the side, landing hard on the metal floor.

Leo was his first choice. They'd been stripped of their weapons, but big bro always carried a hidden knife or two at the back of his belt. None of the Dragons had thought to look there.

Because he was practically cocooned, rolling was a lot harder than Mikey had imagined it would be. He had limited use of his arms and couldn't bend his legs. Mikey's elbows and toes took a beating as he launched himself towards Leo, wobbling across the floor until he smacked face first into Leo's shell.

Mikey grunted in a way that he hoped communicated to Leo that he didn't want his brother to move. Leo apparently understood, because he held his position.

Using his tongue, Mikey pushed hard against the gag while at the same time rubbing his cheek against the ropes that were holding Leo. Little by little the gag loosened until Mikey was able to shove it completely out of his mouth.

"Woohoo! Mouth is free!" Mikey chortled victoriously. His joy was short lived; the rope binding Leo was covering his belt.

It was knotted at the back though. Licking his lips to moisten them, Mikey said, "Don't move, Leo."

After receiving a grunt of acknowledgement, Mikey squirmed closer to his brother, getting his mouth even with the knot. With his teeth, Mikey began working on the rope, pulling at it until he had a gap his tongue would fit into.

Mikey shoved his tongue into the opening, pushing at the crossover section of rope until he felt it loosen. Catching it between his teeth, Mikey tugged hard until it came partially undone.

After that it was only a matter of using his tongue and teeth to make a large enough separation in the rope so that Mikey could get to Leo's belt.

It took him a second to locate one of the small knives. Mikey tried twisting his head first one direction, then another, in order to work the knife free. He was unsuccessful with each try because his teeth kept colliding with Leo's carapace.

Employing his tongue once more, Mikey felt for the handle of the knife and pushed against it. Once he had the right amount of pressure holding it firmly against Leo's shell, Mikey curled his tongue upwards, bringing the knife out of his brother's belt.

Tilting his head back, Mikey let the knife drop to the floor. Now that it was free of the belt's material, Mikey could catch hold of the handle with his teeth.

The key now was to cut Leo's bindings without actually slicing off skin. Mikey's best bet was to work on the rope that lay against Leo's carapace. A few more nicks on his scutes wouldn't make much of a difference.

Trying to keep a firm hold on the knife while wielding it with his mouth was a lot harder than Mikey had imagined. Yet again he was forced to employ his tongue, using it to keep the knife stable as he sawed at the ropes wrapped around Leo's torso.

It was painstaking work. Even a few minutes of the sawing action made Mikey's jaw, mouth and neck sore. His efforts paid off though, after what seemed like an eternity, Mikey cut through the rope.

As soon as the rope parted, Leo burst free of his bindings. With a sigh of relief, Mikey flopped back down on the floor and spit the knife out of his mouth.

Spinning around, Leo wrenched the gag out of his mouth and then picked up the knife in order to free Mikey's arms. Handing that knife to Mikey, Leo used a second one to cut the ropes off of his own legs.

Mikey had just sliced through the bindings to free his legs as well when he heard two people talking. It sounded as though the conversation was coming from just outside the door.

A glance showed him that Leo was bent over Raph in order to cut him loose. Darting towards the door, Mikey hissed to let his brothers know that they were about to have company.

Raph quickly pulled the gag back over his mouth and lay down behind the still bound Donatello. With only his head and legs showing, Raph appeared to still be completely tied up.

Sweeping the scattered rope out of the center of the room, Leo pressed himself into a corner just as the door swung open.

"Take the picture and then get out," a man said. "I guess selling 'em to the highest bidder's just as good as killing 'em."

The second man stepped into the container, glancing at the two turtles before turning his head to look back at the first speaker. "Don't know why we can't tenderize them first."

Quick as a flash, Mikey grabbed his arm and flung him towards Leo. Before the man's startled yelp could make his companion run for it, Mikey lunged through the doorway.

Catching the second man by the front of his shirt, Mikey yanked him inside the container and sent him rolling across the floor towards his brothers.

Mikey reached out to partially close the door so that no one would notice it was open and become suspicious. A pair of loud thumps made him look back and he saw that Raph had smacked the Purple Dragon's head against the floor.

Both men were unconscious. While Leo finished freeing Raph's legs, Mikey cut the ropes off of Don. When they were all loose, the brothers used the bindings to truss up and gag the two gang members.

"What's the plan?" Don asked, keeping his voice down.

"Find our weapons and kick their asses," Raph said, pounding a fist into his palm.

"Find our weapons and blow up this warehouse," Leo said. "Trying to fight against greater odds is what got us caught in the first place."

"I vote for Leo's plan," Mikey said. "I like the idea of destroying stuff."

"You would," Raph replied.

Locating their weapons was easy; they lay on a table only a few yards from the container that had been their prison. A quick, stealthy search of the various oblong, metal containers stacked against the walls of the warehouse proved that they were full of munitions.

While Don performed his magic and primed several of the incendiary devices to explode, Mikey and Raph carried the two captured men through a back door to safety far from the warehouse. Though the shipping container would likely protect them from the explosions themselves, the resultant heat and lack of oxygen would kill them. The Purple Dragons might have no respect for life, but the turtles had a code of honor that called on them to protect life.

Leo was standing guard, protecting Don's back as the genius set explosive charges in strategic locations.

Curious as to where all of the other Dragons were, Mikey crept towards the main warehouse entrance and looked outside. He spotted Hun beneath a canopy that had been set up on the nearby pier. The leader of the Purple Dragons was seated at a table that contained a computer and a ship to shore communications rig.

Most of his gang were milling around the pier, some performing security duties while others unloaded trucks, placing their contents onto the dock. It looked like Hun was about to close a deal, a pretty big one judging by the equipment that Don was about to blow up.

Mikey was not vindictive by nature but he sorely wanted to see Hun get his comeuppance. A low whistle drew him back inside the warehouse where he saw his brothers signaling to get his attention.

They huddled together as soon as Mikey joined them. "I found a crate of timers and to give people time to get out of the way, I set them all to go off in a quick sequence," Don said. "We should be moving fast before that happens."

No one misinterpreted the mischievous grin on Mikey's face. "What?" Leo asked.

"Hun's limo is parked close by," Mikey said. "He really loves that car."

Now Raph grinned as well. "I'll bet he even leaves the key in the ignition."

"Then we take the car," Leo said. "It's go time."

Since the back door led to a grassy field and the river, the turtles raced for the main entrance in order to escape. "I call dibs on driving!" Mikey shouted as he ran.

He was almost to Hun's car before anyone noticed.

"Hey! Stop!" one of the guards shouted.

A shot rang out and then Hun bellowed, "Stop shooting at my car! Go get them!"

Mikey swung open both the driver's door and one of the back doors of the car before hopping inside. Just as Raph had predicted, the key was conveniently in the ignition.

His brothers leaped into the car as Mikey turned the engine over. The vehicle roared to life at the exact same moment as the first explosion hit.

The gang members who had started to chase the turtles quickly fell back as another blast went off, followed swiftly by several more. Hun stood in the center of the pier, his face a bright red as he watched his shipment go up in flames.

Unable to resist, Mikey turned the car and raced past Hun, then spun the wheel and applied the brakes. Skidding sideways, he brought the car around so he could buzz Hun once more.

Leaning through the open driver's side window, Mikey called out, "Thanks for inviting us to see the fireworks! It was a real blast! We'll be sure to send you pictures!"

"Are you done now?" Leo asked, leaning forward.

"Yep," Mikey said with a great deal of satisfaction.

"So how the hell did ya' get loose, Leo?" Raph asked as Mikey drove away from the docks.

"That was all Mikey," Leo told him. "He licked my hands a few times, so I'm pretty sure he was using his tongue to loosen the ropes and get at one of my knives."

"Kind of gross, but effective," Don said.

"You guys know I'm right here, don't you?" Mikey asked.

"I guess for once Mikey's motor mouth was good for something," Raph said.

"True," Don agreed. "And apparently the exercise his tongue gets from wagging all the time proved advantageous as well."

Mikey jerked the steering wheel hard to the left, tossing his brothers across the back seat. Their groans of protest were extremely gratifying.

End


End file.
